Christmas Day blog

It's Christmas ! Woof woof ! Woke up this morning early courtesy of Sis Star barking at 6.15 am . Hoodad forgot to feed us our evening biscuits last night so hence we both had aliens in our bellies.

As you already know Star and I have been good hounds all year and Santa Paws duly visited us and filled our stockings!

The stocking came from De Montford's Delights with breakfast, lunch and anytime nibbles all very nommie ! We both had new toys. Star as always was very keen to play with hers.

Hoomans bought each other a joint present of a new dog walking book that says no stiles so ideal for me.

Hoomans looked at the book and decided to do the Over Haddon walk as it's only 1 mile away from where we are staying. After a steep decline from the car park we turned left and walked along the river.

But after the riverside bit it meant climbing up the hill.

After we reached the top you can see how far up we were but the views were worth it.

We then walked up across a couple of muddy fields back to the the hotel. We were put in the car whilst hoomans went in the Lathkill hotel for a drink. Hoodad had never been in a pub for a Christmas drink so he made the most of it - 3 different pints in 1 hour. On arriving back at the cottage it was time for Christmas biscuits from our stockings.

Then our kibble whilst the bird was stuffed and put in the oven!

I hope I get some turkey although I know it's rich so I'm not allowed much. Merry Christmas everyone !

Saturday trip out blog

Saturday 7th December 2013 seemed like a normal day to me. I got up, had a walk round the block and then breakfast kibble. We even got in the car and went to dog training. As we got a new woofbed during the week we tried them out between exercises.

Training finished and we got into the car thinking we were going home.

But no Hoodad got his talking box out with a women with an Australian accent. I think he calls it the sat Nav to direct him places as Hoomom is not the best map reader. Destination set was 17 miles away. It turns out we arrived at ...

The Kenilworth branch was where I moved to after 18 months in Barley's kennels. I did get worried when I saw this sign.

I thought flip I've already done 1.5 hours worth. Fortunately it was to visit the Christmas fund raising fair (also on Sunday 8th December 2013) They have book on sale, refreshments, doggie and hooman nik naks. Hoomans got two packs of doggie bags (nice & strong ones) £2 pound on the doggie tombola sadly no winners then off to see Santa Paws.

The grotto was decorated with pictures, presents and a poster with a greyhound on it.

In true grotto style there was Santa's little helper or in this case a not so small helper. Hoomans and I recognised him from last year and we had a chat with him. I gave him a Business card so he can follow my blog.

We then went in to see Santapaws but first a couple of photos.

Star and I told Santa that we have been good all year and what we wanted for Christmas. He then gave us both a present.

We both thought that was the end of our adventures but hoomans had some shopping to do in Waitrose and then Sainsburys. I was very good when they went into Sainsburys as they left a bag of shopping on the back seat with me I have now found out there was a whole chicken in it. Doh slipped up there ! Hoodad then asked the Aussie women where the nearest park was and drove us there.

Victoria park in Leamington Spa has paths, 4 bowling pitches and a tennis club with 10 courts. Hoodad watched the tennis for a while as he hasn't played for 2 years. Then it was back into the car for our trip home. As you can image after all this excitement guess what a greyhound wants to do now !

Fireworks blog

Ok so it's fireworks night. It may be all oooohs and aaaahs for hoomans but it is not always fun for us hounds. So I'm going to give you a few of my tips to avoid getting too stressed.

Firstly recognise when your dog is stressed signs can be -

Panting
Raised ears
Barking, howling
Pacing up and down unable to settle
Shaking
Tail curled under your belly (if you have a long tail like me)
Dribbling
Not willing to eat or drink

What can you do to help ease the stress.

Get the hoomans to take you out for a long walk so you are tired and sleep through them. My hoomans took time off work and took Star and I out for 2 hours this afternoon.

Have a large tea with starch in it. We had chicken and pasta with our kibble. Like hoomans a large meal makes you sleepy.

Hoomans had the surround sound on strictly come dancing on loud. Any music is a good one to drown out the noise. Won't recommend a noisy action film incase the explosions scare you.

Outside help

Drugs - only joking chemicals that can help you.

Tablets such as skullcap and Valerian tablets from Dorwest

I have mine wrapped in ham so nommie.

Aromatherapy such as an Adaptil plug in. Makes you sleepy.

Two other techniques I have up my sleeve are a tellington ttouch body wrap or a Thundershirt. These give me a comforting cuddle and relaxes me.

These are some of my suggestions to help with the fireworks but the clever hoomans at The Kennel club have some great ideas. So please follow the blue hyperlink to read their advise.

Kennel club fireworks advise

Perry Barr RGT show blog

As you all know I like a good dog show. Sunday 13th October 2013 was the Perry Barr RGT annual show at the Solihull Riding School.

Fortunately it's all indoors because it was raining loads outside 💦💦. There were lots of trade stands selling various things things. I know the riding school well because it's where we go free running but there was no running today.

But we went to our friends stand first. Hound designs dog collars !

The three collars are what hoomans got for us. Mine is the one top right.
As you can see from the first photo there was lots of classes across 4 rings. Ring 1 pedigree ring, Ring 2 greyhounds, Ring 3 Novelty - not greyhounds, Ring 4 greyhound Novelty Ring.

Hoodad got the treat bag out and became super popular!

I saw some of my friends including my old kennel girlfriend Holly.

Holly lives with Harry who entered the most appealing eyes competition and got 3rd place.

I got entered into the 8-9 year old dogs.

Yep I got a rossette! Better than my last dog show outing at the 1000 sighthounds show (no rosette).
Holly decided it was time to go home but our hoomans decided to enter Star and I into 1 more class - best rehomed dog or bitch not from Perry Barr RGT.

Yes my clever sister got first place. Wore her out though ha ha ! For about 5 minutes she always has ants in her pants. Hopefully I will see more of you at next years show. We both enjoyed ourselves.

1000 Sighthounds blog

Hoomans have taken Star and I
on holibobs to somewhere different North Devon for a week in a 1 bed apartment. We arrived on the Saturday so we could then go 1000 sighthounds walk and dog show on the Sunday 8th September.

The walk started at 12 but it was an hours drive from where we were staying. Hoomans silly sat Nav took them through tiny little country lanes but we made it to the car park. We got our tag collars, bandanas and bibs put on and were ready to go.

There were 2 registration tents and we paid our £2 each and filled the form in to register for gift aid. In return we got given a goodie bag with a save the greyhounds - Grey2K USA wrist band, a sample of Burgess sensitive food and a guide to the show.

There were loads of stalls on the out side of the show ring but that was for the dog show at 2pm.

I saw my friends Cat greyhound and wished her my best as she has got a poorly paw to get better soon. Then our friends from dog training arrived Lola and Lena. They are staying in a farm cottage 10 miles away from us.

We gathered for a group photo for the local paper and then at 12 we gathered to start the walk. They had an official start line to break and we walked for about 1.5 miles.

Hoomom got talking to a nice lady and her hound one of my new twitter followers Bobbit dog @howbobbitseesit but as the poster says it was for all sighthounds not just greys.

The walk took about 1 hour we got back just before a very heavy rain shower. Everyone dived for cover some left but we stayed, hey I wanted to win a rossette in the dog show.

2pm the dog show started I got entered in the veteran class but being nearly 8 I didn't stand a chance against Shadie who is 14 he got a special rossette from the judge.

Lola and her Hoomom were standing next to me in the class. Some of my class skills rubbed off onto Lola as she decided to have a lie down.

I on the other hand got some lovings from her Hoomom Linda so I jumped up her and gave her a cuddle.

Star went in the best sighthound bitch but sadly like Lola and I no rosette.

To complete the no rosette afternoon Lena wasn't placed in the best black beauty class. All classes were well attended with over 30 dogs in each class.

We all decided to buy some raffle tickets Lola's hoomom (Linda) said our our luck would be better in that.

Well it did change ! Linda got 2nd prize the 12 bottles of wine.

So lets just say Linda & Paul will be having a drink or 2 on their holiday. We are planning to met up with them later in the week for walkies. Nearly forgot all 4 of us hounds got a lovely smoked pigs ear that had meaty bits in the base.

1000 sighthounds walk is going to be put onto next years to visit calender ! Lets hope next year they can beat the 285 that were at this years walk.

Greyhound walks dog show 2013 blog

Sunday 11th August Star, myself and the hoomans got in the car for a 2 hour drive down to Braintree in Essex. Are you mad I hear you say, why? I'm going to tell you it was to go to the Greyhound Walks dog show at Notley Country Park.

It was my second time attending but the shows 6th annual show. Parking was £3 all day and we managed to get under the shade of the hedge.

The show was free to enter but all classes were £2 per dog. To enter the classes you had to walk over to the registration campervan.

The queue was moving quickly with folks handing forms in and paying their money. Hoodad wrote the form for Star and I so that will explain why they put Rulo not Rolo on my registration number. Silly hooman doesn't have the best hand writing.

In ring 1 and 2 was where the greyhound classes took place and were between the public announcement portacabin. On the PA system Andy did a fantastic job announcing the classes taking place and other great information. The announcements were clear and could be heard all across the park, unlike some shows were it sounds like they are in a fish tank!

I got entered into the handsome dog class but decided I liked sniffing the ground outside of the ring. Star entered the greyhound bitch 5 and 6 years old. Sadly we weren't picked in positions 1-5 and missed out on rosettes and great goodie bags. By the time I was in handsome dog class I was thirsty and shared a bowl of water with another dog. As you can see the hooman had to keep adding more water as we were both drinking it so fast!

They had a best family class and even with our combined efforts we still couldn't get a rosette. I have come to the conclusion to win best family you need 3 or more dogs the more the better especially if you are all different breeds.

Enough about the dog show onto the stuff I enjoy spending the hoomans money at the trade stands. I started off at the dog tombola. Yes a dog tombola only dog prizes!

Hoomom paid her £1 for 5 tickets and won 4 prizes - bone treat holder, chewdles, luminous collar, pack of natures best. I then found a great new stand Treats 2 Sit 4 all homemade and no added ingredients air dried treats. Unfortunately us greys can't sit as it's bad for our backs. I already have spondylitis in my back so even less chance of me sitting. As you can see from the pictures below we did find a hound that would sit for the treats.

There were various other kennel charities there the GRWE (Greyhound Rescue West of England) as well as Barleys Kennels.

Before I went to Kenilworth dogs trust I lived at Barleys for 18 months. Barleys is run by Jo and she was there. I recognised her and went crazy giving her lovings as well as the kennel handler that used to walk me.

This was the first show that Treats 2 Sit 4 had done and showed off their range that have no artificial nasties,salt or sugar as well as being grain and gluten free.

We bought some of them which I tried during the show but then had to go and buy more. So I have the whole range
Air dried ox and chicken liver
Air dried beef heart
Atomic drops - ox liver & garlic
Hypno teasers - chicken liver, breast and aniseed
Air dried chicken breast

All very nommie and some have been put in the freezer.

Hoomans got Star and I a bandana from Miglicoats. Pink stars for Star and a black flames one for me.

This show is definitely getting put on my yearly shows to visit.